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Cate Blanchett as Irina Spalko

Before he can go looking for a new job in Leipzig, he's interrupted by a young punk who looks like Marlon Brando in The Wild One. Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) is a Harley-riding, tough-talking kid with a Jones-like jones for adventure. His action figure accessories? A comb and a switchblade.

Fans complained when LaBeouf appeared in this film's previews, but they should drop their protests. He lives up to the challenge, and would be an asset to any future episode.

After the film's best chase scene—a high-speed pursuit around (and through!) the university campus—Mutt informs Indy that a colleague, Harold Oxley (John Hurt), has been kidnapped while seeking the legendary Crystal Skull of Akator in Peru.

And we're off on an airplane that trails a bright red line across the map, straight to South America, where Indy hopes to bring Oxley some help. He gets more than he bargained for, and we get exactly what we paid ten bucks to see: ancient tombs, obstacle courses rigged with booby traps, and savage, blowgun wielding natives. (It's enough to make one miss Satipo and Belloq.)

As they dig deep, they explore questions surrounding the mysteries of the crystal skulls. Do the skulls exist? Do they belong to the gods of ancient cultures, or to "saucer men from Mars"? Are they powerful? What would happen if they were all brought back to their place of origin?

Mutt gets spooked by Indy's stories about the Mayans who distorted the shape of their childrens' skulls to resemble the elongated craniums of their gods. "No," Mutt objects. "God's head is not like that." Indy smiles. "Depends on who your god is."

Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood

And yet, Indy never bothers to ask for help from the God who has saved him so many times before—especially in Raiders and The Last Crusade. He seems to have cast aside all lessons learned from the Almighty. Perhaps that's why he and Mutt end up captured by the Communists, hostages in good company. Very good company, in fact: A standing ovation, please, for Marion Ravenwood, the greatest leading lady an action hero ever kissed. Karen Allen's return as Marion is a short-lived delight, and her sharp exchanges with Ford are the stuff that moviegoer dreams are made of.

But there's precious little time for dialogue or character development. We still have to make room for an encounter with a snake, a barrel of monkeys, the most outrageous truck chase of the series, and—of course—grisly comeuppances. (Be warned: If you don't like bugs, you're going to have nightmares.)

In the last act, the world goes to pieces in scenes of unprecedented devastation. Indy's just a bystander while loose plot threads and nagging questions are buried in the rubble. (What happened to the FBI's suspicion that Jones was a Communist? How could Indy have survived "twenty or thirty" top-secret missions with Mac, the sidekick played by Ray Winstone, who seems like a fickle buffoon? Why would the government keep a warehouse full of secrets next to a nuclear testing site?)

In Raiders and Last Crusade, climaxes carried some measure of mystery. The skulls, unlike the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, don't enrich the story with meaning. Sure, we learn where they come from, and who they belong to. But their various powers are baffling—not only do they have hypnotic, telepathic power, but they also serve as a great deterrent against jungle predators. And in the end, they teach the same lesson that Raiders taught: when knowledge is pursued at all costs, it leads to destruction.

And that destruction stirs up so much sound and fury that one of Indy's most powerful collaborators—composer John Williams—is prevented from enjoying any time in the spotlight. Remember the scene in the Map Room in Raiders? Indy spoke not a word while Williams' music soared, evoking a sense of wonder that this film desperately needs.

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